LATEST ENGLISH NEWS.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 112, 16 November 1858, Page 3

LATEST ENGLISH NEWS.

BARON ROTHSCHILD'S ADMISSION AS A . .. MEMBER OF THE COMMONS. x Ox Monday, the 26th of July, as soon as the House was formed, the Clerk announced to the Speaker that an honorable member was waiting to take his seat. The Speaker directed him to come to the table, and Baron Rothschild then advanced, amid loud cheers, being introduced by Lord J. Russell and Mr. J. A. Smith. As soon as the hon. member reached the tableMr. Warren said, I rise to order. The Speaker: The question of an hon. member taking his seat is a matter.of privilege, and ought not to be interrupted. (Cheers.) The Clerk then proceeded to administer the usual oaths, but he was interrupted by Baron Rothschild, and proceeding to the chair said— j "The hon. member says he entertains conscien- j tious objections to taking the oatli in the form prescribed." j The Speaker: Then the hon* member will ' please to withdraw. Baron Rothschild accordingly retired to the ! space below the bar. Lord J. Russell then moved the following resolution : —" That it appears to this house that the Baron Lionel de Rothschild, a person professing the Jewish religion, being otherwise entitled to sit and vote in this house, is prevented from sitting and voting by his conscientious objection to take the oath which by act of parliament, has been substituted for the oath of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration^ in the form therein prescribed." * Mr. J. A. .Smith seconded the resolution. Mr. Warren opposed it, and said he should divide the House against it. Mr. Walpole remarked that tlie resolution was simply the affirmative of a matter of fact, and therefore it would be a waste of time to.divide upon it. No honorable member could contravene the truth of the resolution. The resolution was then put by the Speaker and agreed to. Lord J. Russell then moved a further resolution, empowering the House, in accordance with the act just passed, to omit from the oath the words "on the true faith of a Christian," and to permit the hon. member to take the oath in the. form most binding upon his conscience. Mr. Warren opposed the resolution, and considered the act upon which it was founded inconsistent and discreditable to a Christian legislature.: He still believed thafc no one professing the Jewish religion ought to be allowed to sit in Parliament, and should therefore divide the House against the resolution. Lord Hotham felt he had no alternative but to vote against the resolution. Mr. Walpole considered the question to be a religious rather than a political question, and with the opinions he had always professed, he felt-that" he could not be. an assenting party to the resolution. At the same time he was bound to give Baron Rothschild the highest credit for never Having made any attempt to violate the law. Mr. Hadfield and Mr. Fox supported the resolution. ■■ , ■ The House then divided, and the numbers were —For the motion, 69; against it, 37; majority, 32. The announcement of the numbers was received with great cheering. Lord J. Russell and Mr. J. A. Smith then left the House and returned with Baron Rothschild, whom they escorted to the table amid renewed cheers. •■,-.- On reaching the table, Sir Denis le Marchant proceeded to administer the path, but was again interrupted by the hon. member. Sir Denis then advanced to the chair and said—The hon. member wishes to be sworn on the Old Testament, as most binding to his conscience. . The Speaker: Let the lion, member be so sworn. Sir Denis le Marchant then handed the hon. member the Old Testament, and administered the oath to him. Baron Rothschild repeated the words ofthe oath in an audible tone, aud with his hat off until he came to "the words " So help me, Jehovah," when he put his hat on. Having signed the parliamentary declaration, he. was introduced by Sir Denis le Marchant to the Speaker, who cordially shook hands with him amid the cheers of the house. On passing Mr..Disraeli, the right hon. gentleman also shook hands with and addressed a few words to him. He was theii conducted to a seat upon the front Opposition bench below the gangway, and sat between Mr. J. A. Smith and Mr. Roebuck.

(From the London Correspondent ofthe Sydney Herald.) Your summary by the Australian, just received here, is most welcome. The Standard has founded a leader upon your remarks concerning emigration, : and recommends an exodus Of the hard-working and self-reliant artisans of England' before winter sets in. Tlie mention of the Standard, by the way, affords me fair opportunity for a word or two.on the cheap Press of the metropolis. Penny papers, then, havebecome agreat fact. They are recognised in the highest quarters—are in direct communication with the Government authorities, and are doing good educational work among the humbler order of society. The Standard has a circulation of 50,000 daily, and, being the organ of the Administration, is, as you may imagine, carrying conservative notions into tlie homes ofthe common people. It is as large as the Times —has a staff of twelve picked Parliamentary reporters—some of the best men from Printing-house-square as editors, and is published at " the extraordinary charge of one penny." The Star —Bright's property—-has also a large circulation, but is-only half the size of the Standard. The Telegraph— -8. pages—sells 30,000 a day, and was the first of the penny prints. I understand that, with the commencement of next session, we shall have three or four more of these cheap journals. "Illustrated" Ingram has one in contemplation. The Times especially will gain by the; change. That journal paid excise duty to the amount of £732 weekly, or upwards Of £38,000 per annum. The paper duty is emphatically a tax for the promotion of ignorance, and it is,sur.-.' prising that it should have been maintained so Vi is useless for me to tell you anything about the Transatlantic Cable, as you will be able to gather full particulars front your files of English papers. The success of the undertaking is regarded here as the greatest achievement; of the age, and is no doubt a satisfactory ground why we should at onde commence to put a girdle round the world, and unite ourselves to so important and flourishing a colony as Australia. They tell me —that is, those who.are versed in the matter—-that the connection of London and Sydney would be easier than thatpfQueenstown and Newfoundland. God speed the time when we shall be able to shake hands together across the water, and tell each other of our hourly hopes and prospects! While I was, talking of Bernai Osborne just now, I might have told you a. little about some of our other political notabilities. I went dovyn to. the House on its: closing, and had a peep at the' celebrities—whom, I may add, I had not seen for three years. In that time how. they have altered ! Disraeli has changed even to the Waistcoat. He lookiteh years older than .his'did hi's 3, arid is getting a little bald. That one black lock which used to rest upon his forehead, and make him look so infernally interesting, has been removed. Pain, is beginning to look a little haggard, and is evidently vei'y uncomfortable oh the left hand benches." Gladstone's "Homeric studies" haven't improved the looks of the right,: hon./gentleman, who "is growing slightly musty, and Bodleiaiil,ike i .in.his. aspect. Bright has quite recovered. He is'getting qiiite portly, and—tell it jiofc to the Qiuikers—affects velvet collar and cuffs. .Roebuck looks smaller and more arid than ever, and talks in a voice still .more corrosive. Lord. .John ; t has ; ; lengthened his. groom's waistcoat, and ,widened the , ■brim of his hat; The most conspicuous " new nian" is'that' brilliant snip, Donald Nicoll.' Being >;a: tailor, he dresses; himself to death. Just before the .House rose, Osborne cut a good joke by pro--posing that the hon. member should be chairman of the committee to enquire into the clothing of the army. .-'■-•'■-..'> :-:--.y' '':0- ■'■"■- ?•"■■';'*■'-*•

Of general news, I have but. a few items; Humphrey Brown is out of prison, and being made much of down in Tewkesbury. As Guzman D'Alfarchc says, what a fine thing it is to be a scamp! Sir John Dean Paul is -.till in gaol. Rumour, in this case none the less true because, contradicted by. the authorities, says he is.insane. Why Humphrey. Brown should be released, and Sir John still kept in prison, I am afc a loss to urtderstand. Brown commenced with £18 lis., and left off a debtor to the British Bank of £70,000. Sir John commenced with a- princely fortune,, and left off an absolute beggar and a felon. The career of the first was marked by absolute roguery; of the second, by mere speculation, Exeter-Hail-ism, and mistake. Talking of commercial morality, a case has just come before the Bankruptcy Court, from which it appears that a Mr. David Hughes, solicitor, of 13 Gresham-street, is indebted to the amount of a quarter of a million, and that he has absconded to Australia, having last month taken passages for himself and family in the Red Jacket, for Melbourne. Crime generally is rife iii England. Murders, marked with the blackest atrocities, are almost as common as robberies used to be. The body of a man was | found in the Surrey Canal last week, .with several wounds upon his person, and a paper, with " Johnson, stevedore, Sandridge, Melbourne," written upon it, in his pocket. The "social evil," too, is rampant. The slur, of harlotry lies black and thick upon our cities.. Bands of mere children— With scarce a finger-touch of God left whole upon them, parade the thoroughfares, to the annoyance and disgust of every decent passer-by. I believe there is more vice—and less shame—in London now than at any former period. The windows of hundreds of (apparently) respectable shops are filled with libidinous stereoscopic pictures. Entire. West-end" streets have been turned into brothels; and the Strand, Haymarket, and similar places, are crowded with prostitutes from sunset to sunrise. I may conclude this letter with one or two literary items. Routledge announces, "Southern Lights, by Frank Fowler, late of her Majesty's Civil Service, New South Wales;" Dickens has relinquished his intention of running over to .Mcl? bourne; Thackeray is busy with the "Life of J". J. Painter and Student," —promised long ago in the text of the " Newcome's;" Charles Reade is writing on Private Madhouses, a subject fraught with much contemporary interest, in consequence of certain disclosures which-have lately taken place with regard to the management and discipline of these houses ; and Festus Bailey has published a new comic poem, called the "Age," which is a great hit. ' I had almost forgotten to tell you that the Great Eastern is to be put up to auction. I get much gloomy satisfaction from the failure of the big ship. Your practical city men do embark in such safe speculations!—Do you think the dreamiest poet in Christendom would make such an ass !of himself as your astute merchant occasionally does upon' Change ? ,-- ... '■-' Claims to dormant peerages seem quite the. fashion. William. Constable Maxwell, of Niths-" dale, has just been adjudged the .Barony of Hemes, whilst Sir John Bedingfield' lias hiade good his claim to the Grandison- peerage—one Of Edward Ill's. East Norfolk has just been the scene of an exciting electoral contest, the candidates being the Hon. W. Coke (Liberal) and Sir. H; Stacey (Conservative.) After strenuous efforts on both sides, the poll closedthus : Coke, 2933; Stacey, 2698.: The vacancy was caused by the death-of Sir Edward Buxton (liberal), and, as the constituency had not been polled for twenty years, great curiosity was evinced as to the result. At one fell sw-oopV on Monday, the Lords, afc the instigation of Earl Stanhope—better known by his." House of Commons" title of Lord Mahon—demolished Oak Apple Day, the public recognition of Jamesthe First's Protestantism and the canon that Charles the First was an anointed martyr. The Primate, and the Bishops of London and Oxford, helped in the excision from the Book of Common Prayer of the services ofthe sth of November, the Martyrdom of King Charles, and the Restoration pf Charles the Second. Not content with this evening's work, several lay lords intimated; that they intended to follow up their achievements by a revision of the Liturgy ,- the Bishop .of London almost intimating that the Bishops, if they liked, had full power to authorise the leaving out of the Litany or the Communion Service, when the Common Prayer is read. . •_ The revenue returns for the quarter ending the. 30th of June were published on the Ist of July ! —an achievement of which any commercial firm might feel proud, and of which, doubtless, the firm of Derby, Dizzie, and Co. will ; not fail to make their customers hear. Tbe deficiency, on the quarter is a little over a million—on the year nearly £5,200,000, in round numbers; but, as a million and a quarter, property tax was abated in the quarter, and nearly £5,900,000 in the year, it. follows that the totals shew an actual increase in those branches whicli exhibit a healthy state of the country. ' : Twenty-one years ago, last M.onday, our gracious Sovereign, Q,ueen Victoria, was called by the death of her. uncle, to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland. Amidst, deep distress in the; manufacturing districts, a" monetary panic in the metropolis, grave disturbances in Canada, and, much political agitation at home; the illustrious Princess, who had a, month before attained hex majority of 18 years, ascended her exalted position. 1837 is'within the memory of most of our readers, and yet what a catalogue of great events the interval between then and now comprises. When Victoria ascended the throne, our rail way.system, was. in its infancy,.: and two years passed before Dagnerre invented the photographic process. Louis Napoleon had just made his ridiculous attempt at Strasbourg, and had been sent off to tlie United States to reflect;on his f011y.,. The foolish youth has become a mighty potentate and. a sagacious statesman ; but what of "the other contemporaries of her Majesty ? How death has thinned their ranks! Two years after her accession, "died the Sultan, and Frederick VI.» of Denmark. Another year, and Frederick William 111. of: Prussia, and William I. of Holland, were consigned to the tomb. In 1844 died Charles 'John of Sweden.; in .1846, 'Pope Gregore XVI. 1848—that year; of revolutions—saw the abdi-; cation of Louis s Philippe of. France: of Maximilian of Bavaria, of Francis of Austria, and the death of-Christian VIII. of Denmark. The next year died the King of Holland, and soOn after his abdication, consequent upon the,fatal battle pf Novara,, Charles Albert of Sardinia, Zachary Taylor, 'the President of the United States, succumbed in the following year after holding office about twelve months. In 1851, Ernest of Hanover, the Queen's uncle, died; in 1853, the: Ojueen of Portugal and the King of Saxony;. and in 1855, our bitter eneniy Nicholas of Russia. Four only, of the sovereigns pf Europe, who were on their thrones when her Majesty-began to reign, remain—the Kings of Wurtemberg, Greece, Naples, and Belgium. We cannot pretend to pass in review even the more striking occurrences of the treble period of apprenticeship which,her Majesty has served to "the craft of constitutional government. :Tlje railway ' mania of 1845-6—the Irish famine of 184*7—the repeal of the corn laws —the accidental death of the great statesman whose name is associatedwith their existence and their downfall—the papal aggression—the end of the great warrior who triumphed;'in India, in the; Peninsula, and at Waterloo—these and many oilier' important events are included within the comparatively' short period since Queen Victoria began to govern us. We have seen periods of deep national distress, humiliation, , ; and. trial; -and; we t have been cheered with peace and plenty; but iii storm and. in sunshine, no subject turned a; thought towards the ' throne'•" that was 'other; than one'" of; satisfaction; with the illustrious personage that filled it. -It!is perfectly' true that our mixed constitution .makes■-,the sove r reign but"a nominal head, and casts1 'upon'her Ministers the real duty of ruling. But if not in politics^ there are still matters in- which the Queen absolutely leads," and her subjects delight to follow.; In her. calm and noble bearing; under national trials —in her Complete reliance oh' tlie loyalty of her people in her happy home-*-iuid by lier social vir-:

tues, her Majesty has set the brightest exaanptes. to her people ; and if they cannot look up to tier as their political leader,, they confess that for one-aad-twenty years sho has been to them as gentle a guide as ever trod the,path ofvirtue. The most exal ted of her sex.has been the most distinguished for those homely virtues whicli grace alike the cottage and the palace. ~ .... .